The Army and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) continue to differ on what to do with the remaining defective mines at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) Pulgaon, where a portion of them went off on June 1, killing 19 people including two Army officers.
More than a month after the deadly accident, the Army is awaiting permission to destroy the remaining lot of defective mines. However, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has proposed to repair 100 mines per day, if the repair process is approved.
However, Army officials said that this would mean the repair process would go on much beyond the shelf life of the mines which would complete in the next two years.
The proposal for repairs was mooted by OFB in 2011 when the defective mines were discovered and six years later in April this year it was communicated that a repair methodology has been finalised and approval would be obtained soon for the same.
In a meeting in April 2016 organised by the Military general Ordnance (MGO) it was decided that post approval of the repair methodology, the OFB “will repair 100 Anti-Tank 1A ND mines per day which will be undertaken in three phases.” Officials told The Hindu that after the tragedy at Pulgaon, the OFB reiterated this offer and assured to expedite it.
While the Armament Research Development Establishment (ARDE) has confirmed the suitability of the repair methodology adopted by the OFB it is yet to be ratified by the Comptroller of Quality Assurance (CQA) Khadki and the Director General Quality Assurance (DGQA) is yet to carry functional tests on it.
As reported by The Hindu earlier various agencies had ruled out repair of the mines due to the serious manufacturing defects and inferior quality TNT used in them. “The repair was against the advice of Quality Assurance and really not feasible as per documents available,” a senior officer said.
In a report in 2015 on ammunition management in the Army for the years 2008-13, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) noted that as of March 31, 2013, 13 types of ammunition valuing Rs.1,617.94 crore were lying rejected in 856 lots due to manufacturing defects. This also included 1,02,805 anti-tank mines worth Rs. 47.29 crore.
The fire at the CAD Pulgaon destroyed over 19,000 mines which still leaves over 83,570 mines going by the numbers put out by the CAG. At the proposed repair rate of 100 mines a day it would take a minimum of two years and four months once the work begins which itself is several months away at the least.
DRDO pulled up
Speaking at an event last week, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar while observing that defective mines could have been the reason for the fire at CAD Pulgaon pulled up the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for not “hand holding” the defence production agencies.
“Probably that product did not go as expected mainly because the DRDO did not handhold the production agency, the OFB until they were quite comfortable and sure of them. Producing and developing agency should tie up with each other,” Mr. Parrikar said.
Several Army officers and the DRDO officials expressed displeasure at the remark and noted that it was not appropriate to fault the DRDO when the OFB has been producing anti-tank mines , quite simple compared high end defence platforms, for over four decades.
“Someone conveyed the wrong information to the Defence Minister,” a senior DRDO scientist said while an Army officer stated, “The designer can’t be blamed for the poor quality of TNT which is the real issue. By ticking off the DRDO, he virtually shields the Department of Defence Production, which controls the OFB and the DGQA, and are actually responsible.”
Ordnance Factory Chanda which manufactures explosives was sanctioned in 1964 and production commenced in 1970.
